Cook live crabs

One of the original partners at Olive has returned to running his own restaurant in Mumbai after a six-year break.

indiaUpdated: Jun 24, 2010 14:00 IST

Naomi Canton

Hindustan Times

One of the original partners at Olive has returned to running his own restaurant in Mumbai after a six-year break.

Anupam Mayekar, one of the five partners who launched Olive, alongwith Henry Tham, Martin DaCosta, his wife Sagarika and A D Singh in 2000, opened his latest venture, Amboli Bar and Kitchen in Andheri on Tuesday. Since 2005, Mayekar has not been on the board of directors at Olive and instead held a back seat role.

Mayekar also ran the Latin American bar, Copa Cabaana at Chowpatty Seaface, (previously London Pub,) until Copa Cabaana, closed in 2004, after he was injured in a road accident. Mayekar has teamed up with Anurag Parmar, vice president of Novex Communications and Miket Kanakia, who owns the hitherto empty building, that lies in the bustling Amboli area.

The restaurant specialises in Malvani, Goan, Konkan and Mangalorean cuisine, with a special emphasis on seafood. In the centre is a live fish counter where guests can pick from freshly caught fish and live crabs, and have them cooked to order.

Olive, was AD Singh and Mayekar’s baby and Mayekar has similar plans for Amboli, “This is going to be a classy and high-profile restaurant. There are many seafood lovers, but not enough fine dining restaurants for them in Mumbai. I can only think of The Konkan Café. I come from the Maharashtrian community, so it was always my ambition to start a Malvani restaurant. I can cook good Malvani cuisine,” he says. The average meal at the 120-cover restaurant, excluding alcohol, is Rs 700.

As for the unusual location, he points out that there are no fine dining restaurants nearby, and he expects it to become a destination restaurant. “I will be introducing a buzzing Sunday brunch as well,” he adds.

Amboli Bar and Kitchen opens to the public on Friday, June 25. It is open from 11.30am to 3.30pm, and 7.30pm to 1.30am, seven days a week.It is at Unit No. 2 and 3, Mayfair Meridian, Ceasar Road, Amboli, Andheri West. Tel: 022 2677 0022.